I hope you get to smile
by planet p
Summary: AU; it's Catherine's birthday and her kids - two of them, at least - decide to spend some time together and remember her... sorta...


**I hope you get to smile** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

* * *

><p>The woman on the screen, his mother, the mother he'd barely known, and had known so much of, so many of her secrets, all the same - she is a stranger to him again. This is something new, this smile. A smile for Mel, a real one, though, not a made-up one. He'd always known that Catherine had loved her daughter, in her own funny way, but Cathy's smile makes it very, very clear, this time. He wonders, does Miss Parker remember her mother smiling at her this way? It wasn't an I-love-you-to-bits smile; it was an I-trust-you-enough-to-just-be-me smile. But who was that? Who was Cat, without everyone else, without the whole bloody lot of it; all of the interference? Who might she have been?<p>

Someone... good, he thinks. She had really - underneath, she had - been a good person, but most of that had got mixed up, on the passage from inside to out, in translation. Poor thing. Poor, poor thing. Not because she'd been so misunderstood, but because she had misunderstood so much, herself, too. So much about herself. Because, in a way, she'd hated herself, she'd held the past against herself: terribly. Had believed, Nay matter what I do now, what's been done in the past can't be undone; I am this person, this person who's done these terrible things, made these unforgivable choices: I don't get to go back and change it.

Poor, poor thing. Hadn't never been told, No, but you go forward; you go forward with the knowledge of the past, and you use it to be a better person, then, to hopefully make better choices, then. You're not a bad person... not really, not only. The power is yours: the power to change who you are.

Maybe the Plan had been a way of punishing herself, as well as atoning herself. Maybe it had been for her, as much as for the kids. Because the kids _needed_ to be helped, needed to have an avenue that would lead to a better life than the one she currently led: because they were just _kids_. Maybe she'd thought: But I'm not a kid anymore. Even if I do this, I'll still know all that I've done, before, it'll still be there, tormenting me. But that's okay, because maybe that's my punishment. And maybe I'll make it out of this alive, or maybe I won't, but this is the only way.

I want to be me.

I want to be me!

I don't want to be anyone's little toy anymore.

I just want to be _me_.

And... and... this is me, being me. Sticking up for me, finally. In the end, finally.

He realised, then, that though he'd never knowingly had any intention of doing so, he'd been a part of it, too; he'd been a part of Catherine's manipulation, of her not being able to be herself. Perhaps, if he'd never been conceived, never been born, if it had just been Melody, she'd have been okay; she'd have been fine. She might have been able to rescue the children then, if she hadn't had the added stress of him, of all of that rubbish.

Perhaps all he'd done was make her feel bad for being alive, for being who she was, in the situation she was, trapped as she was. He knew the feeling; he'd been there, too, he'd been there with Saskia. Hadn't wanted to leave her, to give her up, to abandon her, but he'd felt he had no choice: not because of her, but because of him. He got it. It sucked. Big time! And it had made him feel... really crappy.

_I'm sorry_, he thought, now. _I know, it's stupid, but I am. I am sorry. Well, perhaps 'sorry' is the wrong word, but it would have been... I would have been happy to see you happy, instead... instead of the way things went. You had a nice smile, once. It would be nice if you could smile like that now, if Mel could._

_Anyway, Happy Birthday. All I really wanted to say. Hey... and I hope you get to smile!_

.

Parker stepped out of her office, closing the door after her and locking it with a click so that no unwanted guests had the urge to pop by her office whilst she was out and have a friendly little snoop, and headed off for Sydney's office. She was in a good mood today. For some reason, she thought. Which was sorta weird, considering. She'd been in a slightly less good mood all week, but today - suddenly fine! Weird.

When she got there, Sydney wasn't in his office, so she decided to see what Broots was up to. It turned out he was on the phone. When she got near enough to read it, he held up a cardboard sign that read: _Important call! Do not interrupt please!_

Pulling a sour face, she turned and left him to it. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. She wondered where Sydney was, and if she could maybe, possibly track him down, for a while, before giving up on that idea and turning back around, remembering that Broots wasn't the only person she knew who worked in Tech Space. Her lunatic, fake twin worked there, too. Had his own office and all. Ooo! Maybe she could go annoy him. If he was in, she thought. He always annoyed _her_; why couldn't she be the one annoying _him_, for a change. Or maybe she'd just check he was _actually_ working, rather than lining up his next victim/meal. Sodding creep!

She walked off past Broots, rolling her eyes, and scanned her new company ID card past the scanner on Lyle's R&D office door. For someone who wasn't all that fond of computers, he'd sure got fond of them fast, to be working in Research and Development for Tech Space. But that was typical of him, he was a turncoat from way back, she thought, pleased that her new clearance level had done the trick and opened the door. Not so pleased when Lyle didn't even bother to look up and see who was breaking into his office, just went on typing at some ridiculous speed.

Must have been typing utter gibberish, she thought. Can't have been typing anything real at that speed, surely. Only Broots could have done so because he was a genius. At least, when it came to computers. She had to give him some credit for his abilities.

"What're you up to?" she asked, so he'd know it was her and not any old someone.

"A long way to go yet before it's finished," he replied, typically misunderstanding what she'd asked.

"Allow me to rephrase, little brother: What the fuck are you doing?"

"What it looks like I'm doing. Maybe, just maybe working." He stopped typing, looked up at her, past the computer. "Hey. Hello. You might like to shut the door after you."

Whipping around, she saw that the door was still open, and swiped her hand past the sensor to close it. She shot Lyle a scowl. "What are you working on? The sign on your office door says _Research & D_. Am I missing something here?"

"I don't think so."

"You... who doesn't like tech."

"And I'm sure you so like your job, too. So, so much. There, see, I'm being sarcastic. It's my job. For a change, it doesn't involve guns, or gun fights, or Jarod, with a pissed off look because I murdered Kyle. Yay for me! What's up with you, then?"

"Broots is busy," she growled. "An important call, apparently."

"The Tower, probably."

"Charming."

"They always are, doll."

She threw him a dirty look. "D'you know whose birthday it is today?"

"Go on, you tell me. I don't know. Tell me something new."

She scowled. "It's our mother's birthday, you numbskull!" she spat, sorta pissed off that he didn't know, or was playing at not knowing.

"Our mother, is it?" He shrugged. "She's dead, you know. It's not her birthday anymore, therefore. You don't get birthdays when you're dead."

Parker glared at him like maybe she'd take her gun out and shoot him. Oops, know you said you weren't expecting to see any guns, but here's one anyway! Surprise! Boom! Splat! Oh, I'm sorry, but I think you're a little dead. That one's for Kyle, bastard! You were never my _real_ brother anyway!

He sighed. "Look, there's really no need to make that face. I'd have thought you'd be... Well, let's just say, I never really knew Cathy; you did. I'm not going to stomp all over your day, or Cathy's and your day, by pretending that it means something to me. I'd have thought you'd be relieved, at least, if not pleased, but here you are, with that awful glower on your face that honestly very much reminds me of that glum boy, Mirage. Perhaps you'd do best to... I don't know... telepathically call him and talk to him about Cathy's birthday, or whatnot."

Parker scowled darkly. "I hate you."

"I know."

"Catherine would hate you."

"Most likely."

"_Ethan_ told me she does!" she spat, deliberately calling him by his given name, rather than his codename.

"Mmm."

"You're not even my _real_ brother!"

"Oh, stop it. Enough with all of this 'real brother' nonsense talk, okay. It's really rather old. Counter-productive. Very counter-productive. I'm your brother, okay. You don't have to like me, but at least... at least accept that fact, will you. It's... I find it rather offensive, you always going on about this 'real brother' of yours as though I'm just... as though I don't matter at all." He sighed again. "Though, in all likelihood, you couldn't care less what I... think. Can't hold it against you, but, hey, it's still hurtful. I mean, so far as a crazy person like me knows the meaning of hurtful. Which... Shit, let's not get into that, now.

"Can I take you out for a coffee? We can talk about... our mother, if you like. Or you can just talk. Say anything you like. I'll- I'll even pretend to be jealous, if you like. What do you say, sis? Hmm? Coffee?"

"You fucking bastard!" she hissed.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand if that was supposed to be a 'yes' or a 'no'."

"Fuck you!"

"I take it that's a 'no', then."

She laughed. "No, no, if you want, we can go for coffees, talk about shit. Won't change the fact: you're not my _real_ brother; I hate your fucking guts and I'd really rather you were dead! But, by all means, let's have coffee. I'll even make an effort to lie for you: oh, everything was just fine an' dandy, when Momma was alive - fine an' dandy!"

He didn't bother to smile. "You know I know it wasn't, M... Miss Parker."

"Don't you fucking dare call me 'Missy'!" she spat venomously.

"Wouldn't dream of it, doll. Wouldn't dream of it." He smiled, glad that she hadn't figured on to that he'd almost called her 'Mel', instead. That really would have gone down well, he thought. Of course, she took his smile to mean something else entirely, but it wasn't as though he cared anymore. Better that she did.

He walked to the door and swiped a hand past the sensor to open it. "After you."

.

Harmony bit her lip, frowning, deep in thought. So, this was Blue Cove. She'd lived here once. It looked... well, felt almost familiar. The part of her that had once been Catherine, thought it familiar. But that... that was new. _The Rada Complex_, she read. A mall, of some sort, she supposed. It would do, for her purposes. She'd been looking for someplace to buy a present for Miss Parker, and she'd happened to find a place like that: a shopping complex. The tricky part would be evading anyone who might know her, might recognise her, unless, of course, it was Sydney. Then she wouldn't be able to resist popping over and saying 'hi'. Just... because. Because he wrote to her a lot, even though he didn't know it was her he was writing to - he just thought she was that writer whose books he didn't like and Miss Parker unfortunately did - and that was a little bit amusing, she thought. Okay, very amusing. Still, Margaret had told her that Sydney had once been something like a friend to her, and she knew herself that they had been 'something like friends', so it would be nice to see him again, to talk to him again. Even if he didn't recognise her, or even if he did. She didn't think he'd be rushing off to spill the beans to the Centre. Not Sydney. Jarod always had such good things to say about Sydney, even if he never let Sydney know that, even if Sydney thought otherwise. Deep down, Jarod really loved Sydney, like any child loved their parent. Like she'd loved Emily, before she'd remembered who she'd been, like she now loved Miss Parker and Ethan, and Jarod and Mo.

She sighed to herself, hoping that nobody had followed her here, that her little lie had flown, and hurried into the shopping complex. It just felt like the right thing to do, to cheer Missy up a bit. Mel, she corrected herself. Missy was Jarod's special nickname for her, and she wasn't Jarod. Her name was Melanie, and that was the name she was going to think of her by. Not as Miss Parker, but as Melanie.

She smiled. Yes, even if Melanie thought her present was from Jarod, it wouldn't matter. Just as long as she understood that it was from a friend, from someone who cared. Then it would have been worth it. She didn't dare go by and see her daughter; this was as daring as she got. It would have to do, she thought, though she really would have loved to be able to see her, to talk to her, to maybe... just maybe, hug her.

But it wasn't to be.

.

Parker wasn't even pretending to look happy, to look anything less than angry as Hell; she had on an unflattering scowl and she was walking around as though it was the end of the world; nothing to be cheerful about about that, was there?

She had, however, suggested they try that new pharmacy in the Rada Complex. The one with the cafe. The one Raines and Fulton had been turfed out of for arguing just that bit too fervently. If the coffee was even half-decent, she'd find some way to casually let Raines know, just to piss him off even further, seeing as he'd been asked to find someplace else to put in his prescriptions after one too many 'discussion' with the staff that ended with him being asked to leave, one too many times.

Man, she would _love_ that!

As they were passing a toy store, a little kid outside the window glanced at them both, looking on the verge of tears. Parker supposed LK's Mommy and Daddy weren't getting the kid what it wanted, but Lyle, annoying as ever, went over to talk to the kid, and, amazingly, the kid's parents didn't storm over and start accosting him.

_Come on_, she thought. The kid had to be four, five, tops. What was up with parents, these days? Weren't they all super paranoid? Everywhere you looked on TV, in the papers, everyone you asked, was going on about Stranger Danger! About how kids weren't safe anymore in today's society and how parents had to be super vigilant with their tiny tots. So where were LK's parents? Where were the security officers, with their eagle eyes for danger, for homicidal sociopaths?

Giving up on the idea of anyone coming to the kid's aid, Parker decided to do so herself, only to discover that she had no idea what Lyle and the kid were talking about. The kid was talking Portuguese, as far as she could tell, and that was about the most of it. She cursed herself for never having learnt Spanish, at least.

Then, to her horror, the little kid took Lyle's hand and they walked off, leaving Parker to hurry after them. Thankfully, it didn't look like Lyle was going to try and make a run for it with the kid, they were headed further into the complex, not back out to the parking lot, but even so, Parker wasn't very happy. You didn't just go around nicking off with other people's kids. It just wasn't the done thing!

Lyle and the kid stopped by a group of teenagers who were chatting away merrily about teenager things, when one of the girls spotted the little boy and huffed loudly, planting her hands on her hips and rolling her eyes. She reeled off something in Portuguese and her friends laughed, though they probably hadn't understood a word of what she'd said.

The kid shook his head, and the girl shook her head back, pointing at him.

Lyle interrupted the girl's annoyed look: "Eldorea, he's a little kid. What's more, he's your little brother. Have some consideration for that fact, next time, before you go walking off on him. The toy shop isn't a childcare facility. He was getting very worried. You're lucky he's alright - this time. Yvie, Sandy, Winona: You wouldn't ever leave your kid sibling to go off and meet your friends, if you'd been asked by your parents to mind he or she, would you? You'd bring your brother or sister with you."

The blonde girl shrugged, then turned to glance at Eldorea. "Man, that is pretty uncool, you know."

"Um, like, who are you, anyway?" one of the brunettes asked. "And how the eff-sake do you know our names? Little Manolo down there didn't tell ya, that's for Hell sure! What are you, like, some kind of stalker creep?"

"In which case I think you'll be wanting to take Manolo off my hands now, won't you?" Lyle replied.

The girl gave him a dirty look. Weirdo freak! "That even your brother, girlfriend?" she quizzed Eldorea.

The other girl nodded, a look of disappointment on her face. "Mano!" she scolded the boy, pointing to the floor beside her sharply.

The blonde girl ghed and stepped between Eldorea and Manolo, holding out her hand. "It's okay, hon. We'll look out for you from now on. Me your _amiga, s_í?"

Eldorea snorted at the other girl's attempt at communicating with the little boy, but the girl ignored her and waited for Manolo to reply. Wordlessly, he shuffled closer to the girl and took her hand, refraining from meeting his sister's eye.

The two brunettes laughed.

"Thank you, Yvie," Lyle told the blonde girl and sighed. In Portuguese, he told Mano's older sister to have a good day.

"Go to Hell!" she snapped back and turned her back on him, stalking away.

"My, she was a nice one," was all Parker had to say. She still wanted to kick Lyle for interfering in other people's business where he clearly wasn't wanted, but shit, he just couldn't help himself. In any case, that would be his statement of defence. She didn't mistrust or detest Empaths, like a lot of people "in the know" did, she just thought it was fucking bullshit that this idiot got to use that as an excuse for being a creep. _I couldn't help it; my Empath side told me the kid needed help._ Was a load of crap!

"I'm kinda dehydrating to death over here!" she snapped, now, and crossed her arms. "Coffee?"

He sighed, shook his head, and walked off back the way they'd come, in the direction of the pharmacy. "If you're thirsty, you should drink water, not coffee," he replied, without stopping to turn and glance at her.

"You can talk!" she growled. "Ever heard of vegetarianism, psycho?" She snorted.

.

Harmony froze, not knowing what she should do. Damn it! Just damn it! She couldn't think of anyone worse to have just strolled into the place than the two people who had, specifically, the crazy one. She'd heard that not only was he insane and cannibalistic, but an Empath, which really didn't help matters, nor did the fact that he'd killed Kyle, or that the Catherine part of her had the indescribably strong urge to lunge at him and stab the pointy end of the teaspoon in her hand through his jugular. Catherine really hated him! Even in front of her daughter, given the chance, she wouldn't have been dissuaded from killing him on the spot.

Harmony didn't really like the feeling. In fact, she felt a bit like throwing up, now, and it wasn't just because she knew these two were danger, could be very dangerous, for her. Her hands were shaking and she quickly put the idea of finishing her coffee to rest. It would probably be best if she waited until they'd found something to preoccupy themselves and quietly left. She didn't have the faintest idea what they were doing, out at this hour, when they might otherwise have been taking lunch with their co-workers, nor why they'd had to come together, but she realised that she didn't really have the time to dwell over things like that. She had to vamoose as quickly as possible and just hope the Empath didn't catch wind of her. _Never trust an Empath_, she'd heard that said, as well.

.

Parker smiled at the Chanel No. 5, stacked neatly in a glass display cabinet, with a bunch of other expensive fragrances, and turned her attention to the little cafe, ahead, happy to see that there was a free table - there were quite a few free tables, actually. Out of six tables, three were taken. She quickly decided which table she'd be sitting at, and frowned at the menu board behind the counter before taking a quick glance at what was on offer in the glass display. Maybe she'd have a chicken, Parmesan and salad focaccia, too, she thought. It was lunch, and it would look good, to be seen eating something. Lyle would probably run off and tell all of his creepy little friends how she was such a guts, and she'd just laugh about it. Going with that thought, she decided that she'd best have a soup, too, and afterwards, she'd have a look at the desserts. Suddenly, she was actually, honestly hungry.

It sure as heck wasn't because Lyle was paying, she thought, so maybe it was the Chanel No. 5. Yeah, that would do it. Though it was her signature fragrance, the stuff always kind of gave her a tingly feeling in her stomach. She hadn't chosen it for any old reason. In fact, she'd chosen it for a very good reason. To her, Chanel No. 5 reminded her that you had to fight for things that were important to you, and that, even if it hurt, you had to go on fighting, because sometimes all you could do was fight or die. She chose to fight.

Much to her growing irritation, Lyle made no comment on her order, so, suppressing a scowl, she walked off to grab the table she'd been eyeing before someone else got the same idea, or Lyle got the idea that he was free to choose where they sat. Sitting down at the table, she glanced up at the light overhead, pouring down heat onto her cheeks. "Well... Happy Birthday, Momma," she sighed.

.

About to flee, Harmony found herself glued to the spot at her daughter's words. Oh, that's what it was about! Melanie and her "brother" had gone out because it was _her_ birthday, their _mother_'s birthday. Harmony wasn't so sure that Lyle was her son, despite some people's certainty, but that didn't matter. She couldn't help feeling touched by her daughter's words, or worried by this sudden brother-sister bonding moment. What was the crazy planning? What could possibly be in it for him? The way Jarod had put it to her, Miss Parker didn't believe Lyle to be her twin, despite many others believing it, despite _him_ believing it, and she would sooner die than swallow it. He didn't know why, and she'd never really _said_ why, but that was just Mel. Confused, Harmony had gone for a second opinion, but when she'd asked Ethan, it seemed as though he believed it. Now, she sat wondering what Catherine believed, and why she felt such a strong urge to hurt this person she'd never even met.

It didn't even matter what she'd heard about him, she supposed. Well, it shouldn't have. She wasn't the type that took the law into her own hands. Not... not like this. If he'd been about to murder someone and there'd been something she could do about it, some way to stop him, then she surely would have, but to just walk up to someone and... and kill them, just like that, didn't sit right with her.

Melanie herself knew the kind of things Lyle had done, all of the people he'd killed, and she hadn't said, "That's it. You've got to go." For whatever reason, she hadn't.

It scared Harmony beyond words that Catherine felt as though it would be... be okay, to do so. That... it was the right thing to do. The harder she fought the feeling, the stronger it became, the deeper it ran, all the way back to... to when...

Harmony shook her head. She definitely hadn't meant to, but she wanted to... she wanted to slap herself, to slap Catherine. If she'd been sitting across from her right at this very instance, she knew she would have!

Before she'd even _known_ him, Catherine had hated that boy. It was obvious that Catherine had been confused, depressed, even mentally-ill, but that just wasn't right. It just... wasn't right.

Suddenly, she stopped shaking her head, she stopped thinking about where she was or what she was doing there, and the memories came rushing in, memories of before, and they _hurt_.

.

Parker lifted her face from the top of table to say that he might have thought to offer her the paper to read, at least, and glared. Lyle passed her the newspaper soundlessly and sat down across the table, looking slightly pained. She supposed the young woman at the counter - the _Asian_ young woman - had turned him down, and now he was all peeved off about it.

She glanced at the front page of _The Blue Cove Bonanza_ and sighed, opening to the first page to feature anything substancial and scanning the page for anything remotely readable. An article caught her eye and she began reading.

_Don't... don't draw attention to yourself_, Lyle told himself silently. _Don't alarm Mel. Hey, who knows, maybe she'll actually talk to you... once she's finished with the paper. Give her a chance, at least._

He knew he was only distracting himself, though, with such thoughts, stalling the inevitable. Soon, he would have to think up some suitable cover story and he'd have to leave. The negative feedback was slowly mounting; soon, it would make itself known. He could cover it up with Empath glamour, but that would be useless if he stayed too long. If he stayed too long, if Harmony didn't leave before then, he'd start to physically manifest and that wouldn't be pretty at all.

If she had been anyone else, he reasoned, he might've had a chance at fighting it, but she wasn't anyone else, she was his mother, and she was _suffering_. It might have been more of a psychological pain than a physical one, but it was all the same. And he was too close, and that could be dangerous. For him, for Mel, for Harmony herself, even. He had to get away.

_Another day_, he promised himself. _We'll talk another day._ But another day wouldn't be the same. Today, he'd thought, I'll just be myself. Today, I'll give it a rest with all of the rubbish. But now that could never be. Ridiculous, really, how it was always like this, how it always ended like this, when all he had to do was talk, say something. But he always chose to say the wrong thing. Always.

"Hey!" He tried not to think about the pain; it was happening already.

Across the table, Parker looked up from what she was reading.

"I have to call someone. Unavoidable. If you don't..." he trailed away without saying _mind_. So un-Lyle.

"Get lost then," she replied, unsurprised, and promptly went back to reading what she'd been reading before the interruption.

_But... I'll be back_, he thought, but didn't say. What was the use? _Happy Birthday, Cat, old thing,_ he thought, before he left.

.

In the toilet, he stared at the bruise on the underside of his wrist, tried to resist the urge to scratch it. Stupid, stupid... crappy Empath! What was wrong with him today? Could hardly take anything; still had to bug people's kids, piss his sister off. Yes, someone should have come to the kid's aid; no, it shouldn't have been him. Should have been Parker, or someone else. Not him. Looked bad for him. Looked bad when he was getting around calling people he'd only just met by their first names, as though they were old friends. Then he got names like _creep_ thrown at him. And who could blame Winona. From her point-of-view, he _was_ a damn bloody creep!

He sighed and decided it was safe to leave the toilet now. The negative feedback had calmed down, for now, at least. Maybe he'd go back and see how Parker was, see how he went. He didn't want to ruin her day completely, though it _was_ more to his style: ruining people's days.

.

Back in the pharmacy cafe, Parker had struck up a conversation with Harmony, who'd come to ask if she'd finished with the paper. Looked like Parker had no idea who Harmony was; none at all.

Lyle didn't come any closer. Though he thought perhaps he'd have done so, he wasn't smiling. Parker was, but he wasn't. Harmony wouldn't hurt Parker, couldn't have hurt her using her Inner Sense if she'd wanted to - Parker had been trained to lock-down that sort of thing, back in boarding school - but he wouldn't come any closer, he wouldn't say anything, he wouldn't give Parker any cause to believe that Harmony was anyone else but a stranger she'd met in the mall.

But then Parker looked up and spotted him, and nodded to his coffee. He didn't even drink coffee, but he'd thought it best to make an effort. He _wanted_ to like coffee, like Parker, like Frankie; it just never worked. He always thought he might change his mind one day. Never happened. Liked the smell of it, couldn't stand it, otherwise. For an Empath, that was pretty crappy to say. He should have been able to... Empath liking it, or something. But his Empathy never seemed to work the way he'd have liked it to; was too the Doctor's TARDIS, he supposed. It always knew better than him the way things should be. _Oh, sure_, he thought now, _and I'm just in denial. A perpetual state of denial, mayhap? Cute, no?_

He shook his head at himself. Parker, seeing this, snapped her fingers. _Now!_ He sighed. _Right_, he reminded himself. People always thought you were mad when you talked to yourself. But he wasn't _that_ sort of mad. Wasn't why he shouldn't have been shaking his head to himself. It confused Parker, she thought he'd been saying, _Nah, don't feel like coffee now_, when, really, he'd been thinking about something else entirely from coffee. But, he supposed, he had no choice now. He just hoped Harm would be okay. Cat had never really liked him, after all. Had had a natural aversion to him, one could say.

He refrained from sighing again and walked over to join the two women, humming Gin's _Oh My_.

It was a pity, Harmony thought, that she couldn't ask Miss Parker any of the questions she'd really like to hear the answers to: about the time after her mother's "death", about growing up, about Catherine herself, and what, exactly, had been wrong with her. That part seriously worried her. Now that she was remembering, it dawned on her that it had had something to do with her Inner Sense, and what if... what if her abilities came back, too, along with her memories? Would the illness return?

She was yanked from her thoughts by a woman's voice, calling her name, and felt the heavy weight of dread settle down upon her chest.

"Harmony!"

Emily.

The younger woman came hurrying over, apparently somehow managing not to see the two people Harmony had, moments earlier, been conversing with. As she drew nearer, Emily went on, "This is Blue Cove! You can't just go-" She smiled suddenly, realising her mistake, and said, "Mother! I live here! What if... what if someone I know were to bump into you and... and that would be disastrous!"

"Nonsense," Harmony countered. "I'll just tell them the truth. I'd had enough of your philandering father."

Emily winced. "Mother, they all think father's wonderful; a really great guy. They don't know about that. And even if you told them - even if _I_ told them - they wouldn't want to believe it."

Harmony gave a short, derisive laugh. "People like that clearly aren't worth the time of day, darling. I wish you'd stop worrying about things that really don't matter quite so much. You're going to ruin your youth."

Emily shot her a funny look. "Youth, Mom?"

"You're practically a spring-"

"Do not finish that sentence, Mom."

Harmony smiled, but dropped the rest of the line.

"Thank you," Emily said, a bit more stiffly than before, and took a moment to look around her as though looking for listeners-in, or people she might know.

"Darling, don't you think you're being just a little paranoid?" Harmony interrupted.

"Blue Cove, Mother!" Emily chimed. "Paranoid is justified!"

"I'll take your word for it," Harmony replied, with a sigh, and shared a knowing glance with Parker: Daughters, eh!

Parker glanced at Lyle, who gave her a _What are you looking at me for, exactly?_ look, then back to Emily.

"Surely you remember how it was when you lived here?" Emily pressed, frowning at Harmony.

"Actually, darling, I've decided to put the past behind me and enjoy what little of life I have remaining!" Harmony answered, with a bright smile.

Emily sighed, looking suddenly down. "Mom, now you sound like Dad."

"Well, perhaps your father's finally grown up," Harmony declared.

"I very much doubt it. You know he's just going to say you were an awful wife, if it ever gets out as to the true reason behind your departure. He'll just say you drove him to it. You were cold, unemotional, without affection-"

"What utter nonsense! That was never how I was! Reserved, proper, dignified, perhaps-"

"Mom, I think you're failing to see the point."

"Which is what, my darling?"

"Daddy's only going to say that your antics forced him to turn to those other women for sheer fear that he would never enjoy life again, with you making his life a living Hell. Mmm?"

"How was I making his life a living Hell, darling?"

"I don't know. You ask him."

"I will do no such thing!" she replied, affronted.

"Then don't... don't do that voice with me! It's... not my fault! I have to put up with Daddy every other day, and now you! I can't... I can't take it anymore! I wish you'd both just treat me... like... _like a real person!_ Instead of the toy you so obviously believe me to be!"

"Oh, that's nonsense, darling! I have never done any such thing!"

"Oh no! Oh no! Oh, and what about-"

"Darling, you're embarrassing yourself," Harmony cut in. "This is a matter to be discussed in private, not in front of new acquaintances."

Emily glared at Parker and Lyle suddenly, then seemed to deflate. She plastered a weak smile to her face and pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. "You're right, Mother. Once again, you're right. You're always right and I'm always wrong. 'Oh Poppy, when are you ever going to learn?'"

Harmony sighed. "Poppy, have you taken your medication today?"

Emily shot her a sharp look, all of a sudden. "Mother! How rude! Have I taken my med- And I might ask you what you're doing, gallivanting around in a drugstore - of all places! With strange men!"

Parker snickered. In leu of an apologetic look, she said, "Look, ladies, we're all friends here, right? There's no need for... all of this anger. I think it would be best if we were all just to take a breather here, take a moment to relax, and think things through. None of us are... enemies here. We're all friends."

Emily crossed her arms, a dark look on her face. "That's what you think, Miss Avon Primrose," she muttered, under her breath. "Frankly, you don't damn well know my mother at all!" She laughed.

"Darling," Harmony warned. "You have taken your pills, haven't you?"

"You know what, Mom?" Emily fired up, "I'm a Goddamn adult and I'll do what I bloody well please!"

Harmony sighed. "I see. You're certainly your father's daughter, through and through."

Emily scowled, pasting a fake smile to her face. "Well guess what, Mother - I'm glad! I'd rather _die_ than be like you!"

"Lois," Lyle interrupted.

"Shut up! I don't know you!" Emily snapped. "And my name's Poppy!"

"Your middle name is Poppy."

Parker glanced at Lyle weirdly. Somehow, it figured that he'd know these crazies. Crazy people always gravitated towards other crazy people, or something like that, she'd heard it said.

Harmony gasped. "Oh, and you've the gall to accuse _me_ of gallivanting around with strange men!"

Lyle shook his head, looking annoyed. "Harmony, your daughter and I are not an item. We're associates through work."

Emily snorted. "If you can call that work!"

"Go to Hell, Carter," he snapped back.

She smiled. "You first, Parker!"

Parker frowned, starting to look worried now. "Lyle!"

"What?"

She shook her head. "I don't see how starting an argument's going to help any. Show some restraint, hmm? We're not at work right now, we're having lunch out. You do know how to be a gentleman-"

Emily snorted. "Yeah, sure!"

Lyle looked the other way, not saying a word.

She laughed.

"Oh, take a hike! Go take your pills, why don't you, you crazy woman."

She shot to her feet suddenly. "At least I can park a _car_ properly!" she shouted suddenly.

He turned to face her and threw her a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?" he scowled.

"Every time I say, 'That's a no-parking zone, doofus', you say, 'Shut it, crazy! Go take your pills!'"

"Well I wouldn't have to say it if you... just... took... them."

"Do you want me to hit you with this chair?" she hissed, under her breath.

"Go ahead," he returned, with a smile.

Parker quickly put a hand on the chair Emily had been referring to, shooting her a _Don't you dare_ look, then walked over to Lyle and grabbed his arm. "I think it's time we left, don't you?"

"No! I don't!" he scowled. "We were here first. Lois can leave!"

Parker sighed heavily, shooting the waitress an _I'm very sorry_ look when she appeared with her dessert to take away.

Emily took her hand from the chair and suddenly edged in Parker and Lyle's direction. "I... I lost my car keys. Would either of you two be so kind as to help me find them?"

Harmony narrowed her eyes on her, then lifted her chin. Well, if she wanted to be like that, the damn snob, then that was fine with her!

Lyle gave Emily an annoyed look, then pulled his arm out of Parker's hold and grabbed Emily's hand. "Let's go, Carter! With any luck, you'll have locked them in your damn car! Always love a good breaking 'n' entering, I do!"

Emily made a face. "If you break anything on my car, Parker, I'll break something on you!"

"Oh, you can try!"

"I will!"

Lyle laughed.

"Don't laugh," she told him. "I know tai chi."

"You what, Lois? Tell me that's not some kind of alien language from _Star Trek_."

She scowled. "You're the only alien here, idiot!"

"Alien mind control!"

"Idiot!"

Parker looked at Harmony and sighed. "Glad that's over."

Harmony laughed shortly. "Yes. You're not half wrong there, my dear. Poppy can be a handful, I must say."

.

"My goodness."

Emily laughed.

"Let's just hope Parker doesn't figure on to who she is, hmmm? Or who you are."

"No kidding." Emily sighed. "How are you, anyway?"

"Alive."

She gasped, stepping back from him a little. "No! Really?"

"Yeah."

"No need to sound so dejected."

"Why ever not?"

"I don't know," she replied, with a shrug. "Because life isn't only doom and gloom, I suppose."

"Do you honestly believe that?"

"Of course, Dumbo!"

"How charming. For you."

"You. You're too gloomy."

"And isn't that my personal business?"

"No." She smiled.

"Creep."

She laughed.

He sighed, patted her arm. "Strange, strange woman, that Harmony."

"Your mother."

"Oh, _I know!_ Not as though I don't know. Not as though I'm not strange, myself. Still, it's Blue Cove. Bit dangerous, eh?"

"You're her kids."

Lyle sighed. "Yeah, well..." He frowned. "I know you care about Harm, Emily, but you've got to be careful. Harmony and Catherine are not the same; they don't think the same. Sure, they're the same person, but that doesn't mean Catherine's going to feel the same way about you that Harmony did, and now that Harm's starting to remember who she was, Cat..." He sighed. "Look, all I'm saying is, keep an eye on her. And don't- don't take her word as gospel, okay. Cathy was messed up. She may have had good intentions, but those good intentions didn't always translate the way she'd have liked them to."

Emily smiled. Sounded a bit like someone she knew, didn't it? she thought.

He stepped closer, as though to hug her, but then he stepped back again. "Here comes Mel... Have- have a good day, if you can. Keep Harm out of trouble. And... give the little one a hug..."

"Would be nice if he could meet you..."

"Would be nice." He sighed.

Emily turned away, walked back to the entrance in a stomp, just as Parker was coming out, into the parking lot. Emily didn't bother to glance at her. Muttered darkly, "Pompous little bitch!"

"Well, good luck to you," Parker sighed, joining Lyle by the sidewalk. "She's a real charmer, that one, from the looks of it."

"Oh, give it a rest," Lyle muttered. "She's not even my type."

"Still," Parker replied, with a grin, "I saw you two holding hands."

"Could you be any more disgusting?" Lyle returned, with a disgusted expression, and walked off.

Smiling to herself, Parker walked after him. Who knew? Maybe she'd be seeing more of Lois Carter in future. That was, if Lyle didn't go whinge to her boss and have her fired, the ass.

With a sudden glee, she decided that this would totally be going on Cherry's web page. Heck, maybe she'd even get down to writing a little RPF, just to piss Lyle off. It would make a change from all of the William/Jacob stories that Sydney really got ticked off at, and maybe even Cherry and Plum would hang out with her and share homemade cookies with her so she'd fill them in on the goss'. Then she could tell Sydney she had girl friends. He'd be totally surprised, she bet.

Harmony glanced at Emily, as she came walking back over, and sighed. "I don't know that that one can be trusted, Em. You're a brave girl, is all I can say."

"Nah. There's nothing brave about it, Harmony," Emily replied. "He's an Empath; I'm a Mediator. An Empath can never resist a Mediator, Harm. Remember that. See how he just had to touch me, had to take my hand. Classic Empath."

Harmony gave her an odd look. "That's taking it a bit far, don't you think, Em?"

She sighed. "Well, you know, something like that. Anyway, it's different for us: Convergence and all."

"You know I don't believe that," Harmony told her.

"I know you don't, Harmony, but, unfortunately for some people, I do."

"Which is where we come to our dilemma."

"I suppose so," Emily agreed.

"Doesn't it bother you, Emily? That he's... done the things he has? That he's hurt people, and worse?"

"Of course it does," she replied. "It is unfortunate, I suppose, that we should have Convergence. For us both. I'm sure he thinks so, too. But what can we do? We could kill each other, but then... that would achieve very little."

"I gather he believes in retribution, after death? Or else, wouldn't he rather have taken death than this?"

Emily frowned. "Harmony, he put up with a lot of shit when he was a kid, just to survive; I think he can put up with me, now, if it means surviving. He's not that picky."

"No?"

"Not when it comes to things that are out of his control, it seems."

"Perhaps that is merely your perception of things, Emily, and he's planning to doublecross you, in the end?"

"If he does," Emily promised, "he will die for it. I will not take kindly to be taken for a fool by my Convergence partner, nor by an Empath. I am a proud Mediator. Proud of my kind. We will not be shown as fools and halfwits by the likes of any Empath; Five, or not! They may believe we have been allowed to exist in order to serve them, to better them, and their own work, their own goals, but this is not so. We are nobody's sidekick. We are equals!"

"Emily?"

"Taking it a little far?"

Harmony frowned. "I wouldn't say that. I think... I would say, I never knew you felt that way, about... about your expression."

Emily grinned. "Okay, so I was playing it up, a bit, but still, yes, I believe that. We aren't just the dregs in the bottom of the cup. Nor are we to be regarded so highly that our feet should never touch the ground, because that is further segregation. We don't want to be segregated from our brothers and sisters, Harmony, we want to live among them, free, and as equals."

"Never you mind, Emily," Harmony assured her, "it's the Empaths most people see as the dregs in the bottom of the cup, as the lowest of the low. The troublemakers, constantly misleading whoever they can, forever untrustworthy, to be looked upon with wary and caution."

"Well, that's wrong too, Harmony. They are our brothers and sisters. We should love them, embrace them, and they will unite with us, they will stand behind us, should we need someone to stand behind us, fight beside us, for the common cause. That's where they went wrong with Jarod, you see; they made him feel less than them. They cut the cord of connection before it could even take hold. And they suffered for it, in the end. They should be wary not to make the same mistake twice, but they are so full of themselves, believe themselves so high above the rest of us, that they do not even realise that they, themselves, are the essence of their own undoing. They are fools. Blind, greedy fools. Unhappy fools. Really, it's sad. But I'm not too fussed. If they want to fight, I say: 'Bring it on!'"

Harmony sighed. "Emily, sometimes you frighten me really very much."

"Too much of my brother in me, I think; too much of Kyle in me."

Harmony didn't say anything to that; didn't want to encourage Emily's thinking in that direction, at all.

Emily stood up. "I think I'm gonna get a coffee. You want anything?"

"No thank you."

.

"Oh, come on, you like her, don't you?" Parker said suddenly, as they were driving back to the Centre. "That's why you went along with her little outburst."

"Little!" Lyle laughed. "I'd hardly call it 'little.' That woman needs serious help."

"It takes one to know one, as they say," Parker replied. "Maybe you two could help each other."

"Can we just get off this topic. I'm starting to feel distinctly nauseous. Never did do well with nauseous."

"You're just saying that," Parker said. "You're not even pale."

"I don't like looking pale. Then I'd look too much like you, who's constantly making idiotic remarks where they're not wanted. I'm an Empath. Who's to say I'm not just using Empathic glamour."

"Oh, please, if you guys really knew how to wield that vampiric glamour claptrap, then how come Angelo always looks like he fell off the back of a truck somewhere out whoop-whoop and had to trek all the way back to Blue Cove, alone, from the unchartered wilderness?"

"How should I know," Lyle replied. "Maybe Angelo thinks that's the sort of thing women like? Does it look like I could be stuffed asking, when I don't even _care_ about that kinda shit? You women are strange!"

"You care what you look like," Parker pointed out.

"Well, yeah, that's different. That's me."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, um, I don't care how Angelo comes over to you, or whoever. Frankly, that's Persephone's problem now, not mine."

"But he's your 'brother.'"

"Oh, no he isn't!"

"He's a fellow Empath."

"Only just," Lyle muttered.

"That's a bit of a bastard thing to say."

"Shit, when did it hit you, Sis? We are bastards! Daddy and Mommy weren't married, after all, and they still made us!"

"They didn't 'make' us!"

Lyle made a face. "Well somebody did. Sheesh."

"Who knew you were such a traditionalist!"

"Like I could give a shit, Sis, but that's the way other people are going to see it. Besides, sometimes, I just say stupid stuff. You shouldn't always take it to heart. Half of the time, I'm just talking, just like I am right now, I don't really think about what I'm saying, stuff just comes out."

"And you're supposed to be intelligent," she remarked.

"I'm not a Pretender, you know!"

"You don't have to be a Pretender to have a bit of commonsense, dumb wit!"

"Easy for you to say."

Parker laughed. "Just shut up and drive, tool!"

"Please, I'm totally better looking than that old guy!"

"_Please_, you sounded like a teenage girl just then! Besides, I hate to say it, but that's a matter of personal opinion."

He laughed. "What, you've got the hots for Barty, now? I could very well be ill!"

"I never said I did, dumbass! I'm just saying, different people are gonna see it differently."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Shut up!"

"You're totally in-"

"Zip it, or I'll grab the wheel and kill us both! I hate that freak's guts, he creeps me out worse than Raines does, and that's saying something! So shut it!"

"Not worse than I do, Sis?"

"Don't push it, jerk!"

"You know, some people reckon Catherine had a crush on Raines, and that's why she trusted him, so it's probably genetic predisposition steering that kind of thinking."

Parker grinned. "I see! And that's how it was for you, too, was it? That's why you trusted the fucking creepy bastard when he came to see you in Farmer People country?"

"Who knows? That may well have been the key to it all."

Parker scowled. "Imbecile!"

"Dude, lay off, already! It's genetic! You can blame Daddy for that! He had that awesome babe and he was still, like, 'Nope! Not enough!' What the Hell was wrong with the guy? I mean - what the Hell's still wrong with the guy?"

"He's insane," Parker replied. "Much like you." She narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying? You think he should get together with Fulton and have creepy ME babies?"

"How cute would that be?"

"You are insane!"

"And then... she could be our new Mommy! Way cute!"

"And you were telling that chick to take her meds. You oughta try it yourself, sometime."

Lyle smiled. "Come on, it's totally cute! Plus, Cherry's been complaining about the lack of quality adult viewing on DSA these days."

"Because Cherry's insane! Like you!"

"Don't insult Cherry. She's funny, and cute, and totally Barbie. She's awesome. Don't diss the awesome, Sis, just 'cos you're starting to lose some of it yourself."

"Be quiet! I'm just as awesome now as I was the day I was born, nimwit!"

"Uck! Tiny red screaming thing with demented-looking eyes and oversized head! Not awesome, Sis. Not awesome."

"At least I was cuter than you, freak!"

"Maybe."

"Nah-hah!"

"Now look who's behaving like a teenage girl!"

"Asshole!"

"Spot on, Short and Strange!"

"Don't call me that idiot name, idiot!"

"Make me."

"Bitch, I could kill us all!"

"Don't you mean 'both'?"

Parker glared at him as though he was some kind of massive ignoramus. "No, I mean 'all'! First, I'll waste you; then I'll find that Lois monster and throw her under an oncoming something. Then, to escape justice, I'll kill myself, too."

"And what's Lois done to you, exactly, to deserve that?"

"She called me a 'bitch.' And guess what? I am! I'd just hate for her to never know how right she was, you know!"

Lyle sighed. "If only you were younger. You're so cute."

"Shut up!" Parker scowled. "And what do you mean, 'younger'?"

.

Parker sat in her office, scowling at her keyboard, wishing she had a glass of wine or a good bottle of vodka handy. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she stood up grumpily and walked to the door. "I suppose it's a lead on Jarod," she said, when she saw that it was Broots.

"Nothing like that," he replied, and stepped back before she could smack him over the back of the head. "Can I come in?"

"No, you shit! Come in here and I'll suck the life out of that pathetic bag of meat and bones you have the disgusting audacity to call a 'body' and toss the dried, dead carcass out for that freak Lyle to chew on!"

Broots cracked up. "Sorry. Sorry," he apologised. "It was just... kinda funny, you know."

Parker scowled. "Get the fuck inside, you oafish halfwit!"

Broots stepped into her office and closed the door after him. "Of course, it'd be more appropriate your calling Lyle the oaf, as the word itself has its origins in Old Norse and comes from 'elf,' or 'elf's child;' therefore, 'changeling.' And as you don't believe Lyle to be your real sibling, but an imposter, instead, I'd say you'd have a perfect match. Although, later, the meaning did come to be associated more strongly with 'idiot child.'"

"Excellent!" Parker replied. "It suits him finely! Geez, you're a geek!"

"Thank you, Miss P."

"Shut up. What did you want to say? Spit it out already?"

"I just came to see how you are, really."

Parker scowled. "Currently, I am trying to dodge doing my paperwork in favour of meaningless gobbledegook!"

"Sounds very much like what Lyle does all day."

Parker snickered. "I didn't tell you he's got a new girlfriend, did I?"

Broots frowned, slightly concerned.

"He says there's nothing going on between the two of them, but I know, _I_ know! Call it women's intuition, call it paranoia, call it what you want - but I know! Besides, it seems to really piss him off whenever I bring it up. So, being the genius that I am, I've devised an ingenius method of revenge!"

"Revenge?"

"The idiot girl was rude to me!"

"Okay. So what's the plan here, Miss P.?"

"I'm going to write an RPF, and it's gonna be epic, baby!"

Broots leant away from her, looking very worried. "Ah, that's... probably not such a good idea, Miss Parker. You do remember what happened the last time one of us fell for that, don't you?"

"Shoosh! This is different. This isn't about Jacob and Raines; it's about that asshole imposter who has the fucking nerve to continually embarrass me whilst making out he's related to me! And he's going to pay, the little bastard!"

"You could just accidentally shoot him. I mean, who even knows if he can read. Bobby was illiterate, according to his teachers."

Parker scoffed. "Even if he is illiterate, that creep, Cherry, or her little half-Mexican friend, Plum, will read it for him!"

"Or Cox."

"Or Creepshow Cox!" Parker agreed, snapping her fingers. "You have it! Isn't it perfect! Absolutely marvellous!"

"I'll get back to you on that, I think."

"Think fast!"

"Right on it." He walked to the door, quickly pulling it open and exiting. Outside, he suppressed a sigh and head for Tech Space.

In Heathrow Lounge, he spotted Cox and sighed. "Parker's having one of her moments again. If you see her, make a quick detour. _Trust_ me, you don't want to get in range of her crazy-person mood!"

"Oh great!"

"You're telling me! You're telling me! Those two just can't lay off one another, can they? Always have to press each other's buttons. I'm telling you, if they're _not_ twins, then they sure as Hell _should_ be!"

In her office, Parker walked back to her chair, behind her desk, and sat down, laughing evilly. She frowned. "Yuck! More practice, Parker. More practice." She scowled, looking down at her keyboard dejectedly. Suddenly she was hungry. Tortillas sounded nice.

She dropped her shoulders. Too bad the dining hall didn't make Mexican food, really.

She laughed. Man, but it was pretty funny, her creep fake brother having been illiterate! However Raines had got him up to scratch on his reading and writing, she didn't envy him that task. _Come to think of it_, she thought, _it would be pretty funny if Raines and Fulton got together._ And Raines could have fun teaching his kids how _not_ to be illiterate, seeing as how he was so good at it! Really, it was strange that he'd never had any more kids, given that he was so keen on moulding young minds to his way of thinking. Then again, why go through all of that bother if he could just nick someone else's kid instead. Oh, how foolish he was! How stupid, indeed!

The guy really didn't get it, did he?

.

The conversation in her head went something like this:

"If you write something, I'll read it over and tell you what I think of it. How's that?"

To which she would sigh, and concede, "Okay."

"At home."

Here, she would moan and complain, "I've got nothing to do anyway. Done all my paperwork. Yesterday!"

"That's not what you told Broots."

"Are you kidding? If I told him I had some free time he'd be like, 'Why don't you come hang out with me?' and that'd just be... weird. Not a very computer-minded person, I'm afraid. But, okay, if you say so, I'll sit around my office diddling my thumbs and write something up tonight and bring it in for you to read in the morning."

"That sounds perfect."

"I'm glad you think so."

Of course, that conversation was only ever in her head, but, she decided, perhaps she'd have more luck at home - where no-one would be able to stop her from having a glass of wine or two.

Standing up, she went to get a coffee and bug Broots about a lead on Jarod, for the third time that day.

.

**Lois sits in her kitchen, on the bright red stool that is her favourite, in front of the marble counter that had cost far, far too much money, in her opinion, but which the cute salesman had assured her was worth every dime and dollar. Now, she isn't so sure. She isn't so sure that she's all that great a character judge, either. It seems, no matter how hard she tries, she is always letting someone get the better of her, and more often than not, they'll be someone cute... and male.**

**She has a real problem, she concedes. Apart from the other real problem facing her just at this moment. She's late for work, and that's a problem. A big problem.**

**She sighs and plants her petite chin in her petite hands, wondering what she's going to do. Should she go into work anyway, even late as she is, or should she ring up and make up some lie that she's unwell? She doesn't think of herself as a liar, but she's in a bit of a pickle. She really doesn't know what to do.**

_**It's just one day**_**, she tells herself, as though this should be some defining moment, some sort of comfort, an arm around her back saying: "You're not a bad employee. The company will understand. You're a human being, too. They get that."**

**She sighs again. Fat chance! The reality of it is more than likely that the company just doesn't care, so long as the money's in their pockets, merrily jangling out a happy little tune.**

**It's her car, really; it's not even really **_**her**_** fault. Well, not really. But... kinda a little. But only a little! If only she'd not locked her keys in the car, she'd have been right; she'd have been able to drive to work, no problems. But her purse was in the car with her keys. The only reason she'd been able to get into the house at all was because she always kept a spare key - hidden, of course - and she'd been able to dig it out and get inside.**

**She should have called someone, she thinks now. She ought to have, sure enough, but she'd been too... too embarrassed. What if word got back to one of her father's girlfriends? She'd be a laughing stock! Her father would think her a fool! Everyone would think her a fool! She'd even start to think herself a fool, she thinks. She's always so easily taken in, after all. Oh, it's so silly! So very silly!**

_**I **_**am**_** a fool!**_** she thinks miserably, as she reaches for her cell phone, laying on the counter not far away, in all of its pink leopardy-print glory! There's nothing for it: she needs help!**

**She sighs tiredly and presses a couple of keys on her cell phone keypad, finally coming up with her Address Book and finding the number she'd been looking for. The guy has a rep' as a bit of a rabid womanizer - personally, she thinks him a creep - and she realizes that, **_**yes**_**, she can use that to her advantage, make out like... **_**Well, I'll think of something**_**, she promises herself.**

**As the phone rings, she actually starts to feel better, more confident in her plan. She's not a bad looking woman herself. In fact, she decides, she can be **_**stunning**_**, if she so wants! Absolutely, fabulously stunning!**

**She smiles as the phone gives a little click and a voice comes on the other end. The guy was a creep and she would feel no guilt in using him the way he used others. Really, he deserved it! She could totally do this! She was totally up for the challenge.**

**"Lyle Parker," the guy answers.**

_**Oh, right, that's his name**_**, she thinks. **_**Luckily I didn't just now call him Larry. Lucky I kept my mouth shut. Lucky me.**_** "Yes, um..." What to say now? she wonders. "I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a bind, at the moment. Damn it!" She winces. **_**Lois!**_** "Sorry, um, it's Lois... I didn't- I didn't say. It- it would be very... very helpful, if you could h-h-help." She deflates, glaring at the marble counter top. It's really no help at all, the stupid, overly-expensive thing! "I've locked my keys in my car and I can't get to work. Could you possibly pop by and help me retrieve them?"**

**"I'm kind of at work myself, at the moment, Lois," Lyle replies, though he doesn't really sound like it. Usually people who're at work sound different, she thinks, more stressed. But Lyle doesn't sound like that at all, he sounds as though he thinks it's funny: some stupid woman's locked her keys in her car. How stupid must she be? Ha-ha!**

**Glaring harder at the counter, Lois forces herself not to scream back into the phone's tiny speaker, "I hate you, you stupid fucking asshole - why can't you just drop dead and do the world a favour, asshole!" That would get her nowhere.**

**"I'd really appreciate the favour!" she whines, trying to sound... what was it that guy's liked... helpless? "I'd totally owe you!"**

**"You know what, Lola," Lyle says suddenly, "don't you worry about a thing! I'll be over in a couple o' minutes and we'll get this thing sorted out! How's that sound?"**

**"My name's Lois," she replies, in a bit of a drone, before she can think how offputting that'll probably sound to him, but, by then, she just doesn't care. The jerk couldn't even get her name right! What a jerk!**

**"Of course!" He laughs. **_**Stupid laugh**_**, she thinks. "Lois! Where's that then? Your place?"**

**She looks around, for a moment, and pulls a letter that had been laying on the counter from last night - along with her cell - towards her and reads off her address, dumbly forgetting not to include her name: P Carter.**

**Maybe he'll forget her name again, she thinks, or he'll just think it's her husband's name, or her mother's, seeing as she never wears a ring. She sighs and shrugs. Oh, who cares?**

**"See you then."**

**She hangs up. Yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck. What a freakin' tryhard!**_** He's not bad looking, **_**she thinks now,**_** but he's damn annoying; not to mention, I can't stand the sound of his voice. A pity, really, because he makes good money.**_

_**If only he wasn't such a jerk, we might've had a future together**_**, she thinks, before mentally shaking herself, a moment later. What an idiotic thought! Not only is the guy the type to look around, he's also stupid as heck and so self-impressed it makes her want to puke, and, as husband material, that won't do. Not for Lois Carter. No way.**

**She puts her cell phone back down on the counter top, on top of the unopened letter from last night's mail, and slips off the stool. She's still wearing her pyjamas and decides that it's probably best to change. After all, she doesn't want to give him anything else to laugh at her for.**

**It's more than a couple of minutes when he finally shows up - more like **_**twenty**_** - and she drops the curtain she'd been peering out from behind at her living room window and walks to the front door to say 'hi' and point out which car, exactly, is hers.**

**On the few occassions they'd worked together, he'd always struck her as dull as ditchwater, never believing her when she said they'd just parked in a no-parking zone, and she's not entirely up for believing that he'll know which is her car just because it's parked in **_**her**_** driveway. Sure, he'd made it to her place, finally, but that had probably had more to do with the fact that his car had satellite navigation than his impeccable driving skills or directional sense.**

**She opens the front door and steps outside into the pre-midday morning. She doesn't really want to invite him inside, his vibes don't really make her feel all that comfortable, and she doesn't want her house feeling like him, too. She's afraid, if he comes inside, that she'd have the irrational urge to burn her house down afterward.**

**Shaking the thought of burning houses, she heads down the path leading from her front door to the footpath running in front of her house and offers up a smile she's quite pleased with herself for having been able to conjure from wherever. "Thanks for coming," she says, as though she really means it - **_**Wow, I'm actually a pretty convincing actor! Maybe I got into the wrong line of work?**_** - moving in the direction of her car and glancing in through the driver's side window at the key, still in the ignition. She gives a little laugh. "Pretty silly, huh?"**

**"We all make these silly, little mistakes sometimes, Lorna!" Lyle tells her, clearly thinking himself terribly reassuring. "The best thing to do is accept the fact and figure out where to go next?"**

_**I know where I'd like you to go**_**, she thinks. "Six foot under."**

**She doesn't realise she'd just spoken her thoughts out loud until he frowns and asks, "Pardon?"**

**"W- I've been very worried. To be honest, I wasn't able to get much sleep last night, I was worrying so much. B-but now that you're here, it's alright. I see there's been really nothing worth getting so worked up about."**

**"Well... that's right. Nothing to be worried about, Lorraine."**

_**Lunatic!**_** she thinks, suddenly more angry at him than before. He can never just get her name right! He's really insane! It doesn't really register in her brain what she's done until she feels something warm running over her hand and notices that it's red, like the nail varnish her Daddy's new girlfriend wears: the bitch who's always sneering at her, thinking that Lois is so stupid to believe that she's really smiling, that she really doesn't mind that her totally loaded old coot boyfriend has a daughter who's older than her.**

_**Yuck**_**, she thinks then, realising that, no, it isn't nail varnish, it's blood, instead, and she stares, for a moment, at the knife in her hand, only just remembering that she'd taken it from the block on the counter, in mind of opening that unopened letter, before Lyle had shown up and she'd slipped it into her pocket for later, when she got the chance to pop back inside and sit down to go through yesterday's mail, at last.**

**She drops the paring knife to the ground and stares at Lyle as though she's never seen him before. "Who are you?" she yelps, suddenly. "This is **_**my**_** front yard! Get out! GET OUT!"**

**Lyle doesn't say anything, and she glares at him and screams, "I'M CALLING THE COPS!" and then she stomps back inside to do just that. She's well within her right, after all, and she knows it. Somehow, she forgets that she'd rung this creep on her phone earlier and asked him to come 'round to help her sort out the problem of her car keys, which she'd locked inside her car with her purse when she'd come home the night before. All she knows is that the guy's a creep and she's calling the cops on his ass.**

_**Serves the creep right!**_** she thinks, as she presses three numbers into her cell phone keypad. But there's really no need to worry, she reassures herself. The cops'll sort him out. Then she'll be able to get off to work, finally. She'll be able to come out of her house, instead of stare out through her living room window at the weirdo trying to break into her car - probably a debt collector, in that get-up - afraid that he might insinuate by the car parked in her drive that she's home and come after her. It's all been rather an unsettling affair, but it'll be over soon.**

**She smiles to herself as she rinses her hands under the tap in the kitchen sink, and her phone, too - the muck from her hands had gotten onto it, too - and sets it down on the kitchen counter to dry, then dries her hands on a handtowel folded nearly on top of the microwave and goes to the home phone. mounted on the pastel yellow wall. Her cell's not working so she'll have to try the landline, she decides.**

**This time, the phone rings, and she feels so much better.**

.

"What do you think?" Parker asked, with a smile, glancing at Sydney patiently as she waited for him to say something. Amazingly, when she'd told him the whole story of how it had come about, he'd agreed to give it a whirl and read her story.

He handed her back the piece of paper with the story she'd printed out for him to read, trying not to look too disturbed.

"So?"

"You're right. It's not really very... romantic..."

"That's what I thought, too! But it'd be kinda creepy, thinking about... that kind of stuff, you know, about... _him!_"

_Trust me_, he resisted the urge to say, _what you've got there is sufficiently creepy. Please don't write any more._

"So, is it passable?"

"It's certainly... interesting."

"Really?" She hadn't thought it so interesting, but then, Sydney _was_ a psychology nut!

"Mmm."

"I feel totally confident now, Syd! Thanks a bunch! So I'm off to post it on Cherry's website."

He smiled at her.

She walked out, pulling the door closed after her.

Sydney put a hand to his head. Too creepy! Just too creepy! He walked to his desk quickly and opened the bottom drawer, getting out one of Darcy's romance novels and sitting down to read it. Anything but Parker's creepy story! He couldn't say exactly what it was about the story that had unsettled him quite so much, but he didn't really want to dwell on it, either.

.

Cox laughed, sharing an amused glance with Broots, and shook his head. "Oh, man! She's funny!"

Plum scowled at them both, looking sour with a pouty bottom lip. "I don't think it's funny at all!" she snapped. "Lyle's my friend!"

Cox did his best to compose his expression into some semblance of normality and Broots said, "We're not saying that he's not, Plum... That he's not your friend, but it is pretty funny."

"You've got a twisted sense of funny, Mr. Broots," she told him.

"Oh, come on!" Cox appealed. "He's our friend, too."

"Ha-ha!" Plum intoned, her face dark. "It doesn't even make sense. People aren't even like that in real life."

"Of course they are!" Broots argued. "Most of the time, you just can't tell. They seem like pretty normal people."

"Oh shut up! What, you mean like _you_ seem normal, Mr. Broots?" Plum scowled.

"That's not fair," Cox interrupted.

"And you can shut up, too!"

"Come on, Plum. Don't be awful."

"Who knew you were so superstitious," Broots commented, earning a _Not helping_ glance from Cox.

"Whatever!" Plum snapped unhappily, and turned and stalked away, for the automatic doors.

"Shee-eesh, man!" Broots breathed, and got another look from Cox.

.

"You're horrible!" Plum told Parker in the coffee room, on the same level as Parker's and Sydney's office. "You're a horrible, horrible person!"

"Plum," Cherry appealed softly.

"Ooo!" Parker snapped. "Get over it, Mexico! He's not your dad. He killed your real dad and thought it was funny!"

"That isn't true!" Plum yelled suddenly. "He didn't think it was funny! You're such a fucking bitch! I can't believe he sticks up for you!"

Cherry sighed, putting an arm around her friend's back. "Come on, hon, let's go. Shouting and spitting venom is no fun. Why don't we go have a cuppa down in the dining hall, hmmm? Sims might be there. Or Reston. We could ask Sims about his new motorcycle, if he's there. Or totally shamelessly laugh about it, if he's not. Can you just imagine Sims in leather biker gear? Oh my goodness, I'd die of laughter!"

Plum didn't smile, but allowed her friend to lead her out of the room, her expression just as angry as ever.

"Sticks up for me, my ass!" Parker snorted, when it was just her and the empty room.

.

Emily sighed, glancing across at Harmony, who'd just come back from Parker's yard, back over to the hire car. She'd left the package in front of the front door and just hoped Parker didn't think that highly sus'. After all, it wasn't anything dangerous. Just a scarf. She hadn't been able to think of anything else to get her, sadly to say. Still, scarves were nice in winter. Couldn't go past a nice scarf in the chilly winter months.

"I think I'm going to stay, for a little while," Emily told her, as she pulled the car door closed after her, and it was warm again, without the cold blast of air from outside.

"You've a young child to think about, Emily. I think you'd really better come back with me."

"I thought I might talk to Sydney."

"About?"

"You know, Inner Sense stuff."

Harmony sighed heavily. "As much as I appreciate the gesture, Emily, I'm not sure that would be such a great idea. What would you say, beside? That you're merely curious? That it's because of Ethan that you want to know? The others don't know I'm Catherine, remember. Margaret, Charles, me and you: it's just us, Emily. Jarod, Ethan, Mo: they have no idea, and I'm... I'm not ready to tell them yet. I'm still... getting used to the idea myself."

"That's understandable," Emily said, with a sigh, and offered her a smile. "Okay, Harm, I'll come back with you. But if you need any help, ever, if you ever want to talk, you come and talk to me any time. Any time, it doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night, or whenever. Any time at all."

"Thank you, Emily."

"No way, Harm! You're like a mother to me. You don't have to thank me. I'm just glad I've got such a great friend."

Harmony smiled at her. "Thank you."

.

Parker narrowed her eyes on Cox and Sam, talking together, and Lyle standing around not really listening to their conversation but just thinking his own thoughts, and suppressed the urge to go over there and laugh at him.

She was kinda ticked off, actually, that he hadn't said anything to her about the story; that he hadn't got pissed off or yelled at her for upsetting Plum. Until a few years ago, he'd been getting around making out like he was the father of her kids, until she'd told everyone that that was bullshit and she supposed he was only saying it because... for some crazy reason, anyway, that she would never fathom. Like she could care, but it damn well wasn't true and she'd told him to get over it; they were her kids, not his.

It was strange, him not being even a little angry at her for getting Plum in a bad mood. She wondered, suddenly, if Plum had told him she was pissed off at her, or not? Maybe she'd kept it to herself because she'd thought Lyle might take his "sister's" side over hers, and that would be too much for her to handle! Though Parker had always thought the woman had more guts than that, it may very well have been the case.

She stood up and stalked over to Lyle. "Stop buying me shit, you idiot! I don't want it! What's it gonna take for you to get it into your thick head, you fuckwit?"

"Sis, chill out, it was that creepy old lady that bought you it, not me. Sheesh." He gave her a funny look. "I guess she thought she'd really rather you as a daughter than Lois, or something like that. I suppose it could have been a thank-you for supporting her and not just letting Lois and I start an all-out war in the middle of the pharmacy."

"And how would she know where I lived, idiot?" Parker scowled.

"Maybe she asked Lois, and Lois rang me and asked me, and I told her. Sorta. Don't- give me those witchy hex eyes! She asked nicely, so I thought, _Why not?_ It's not as though she did anything to you. She hasn't taken up stalking you. It's a friendly gesture, Sis. Or what, don't you remember what those are, anymore?"

Parker growled and turned on her heel and stormed off. "Fuck you, freak!"

"Language, missy," Brown admonished, as she was passing, and she snapped back, "Fuck you, too, Tower scum!" Brown merely laughed, and let it go. She was having a bad day; there was no reason to make both of their days rotten, too. Better to let it go than wallow in it, he told himself.

.

Emily had always had her suspicions, suspicions that her mother had guessed the identity of her first son, Lyle's, father. Well, come on, it hadn't been all that hard a guess, given what she'd named him, really. Especially not for someone like her mom, who'd once worked for the Centre herself and knew damn well how... strange and complicated things could be, on the inside; how you could form these attachments to people who may well have never even wanted to speak to, in the outside world, someone you might otherwise have spat on and denounced from the human race at the blink of an eye.

But Margaret had never come out and said anything, asked anything, had never tried to make it official. Emily didn't even know what her mother believed, whether or not Lyle was her best friend, Catherine's, child or not. And she'd never asked, either. Then, it was only Parker, ever the sceptic, who'd held on to such thoughts, officially. And everyone knew that it was only because she hated Lyle, that it was nothing more than her last, little rebellion. She had no proof, had never had anything to go on to say otherwise. The tests had said all that had needed saying.

Emily didn't doubt that they were brother and sister, that they were siblings. She knew a couple of other things, too, but those weren't things she'd ever discuss with her family, with Jarod or Ethan or Margaret or Charles, or even Mo, even Harm. By now, perhaps Harm would know some of those things for herself, and then... well, it wouldn't be so awful if they talked about it, but until then... no, she wouldn't bring it up. She'd keep the peace as best she could. It wasn't as though she'd meant for Hubertus to come along, so suddenly, it was just that, sometimes, you couldn't escape these things. Sometimes, they locked you up and gave you no choice but to obey.

So, yes, perhaps she could have fought it - for a while - they could have fought it, but she really hadn't felt up for all of that. And perhaps, even, a small part of her had missed that kind of intimacy... or, quite a large part, even as she knew it wouldn't be forever, it couldn't be forever, it would only ever be fleeting, never stable. She'd still... missed it, damn it!

If anyone could understand that, she thought, it would surely be her mother.

.

They'd had a spot of fine weather, and so, for lunch, they'd decided all to go out and have a picnic. Emily had been delighted, a little too much so, she'd thought, at the time, but it hadn't really fazed her then: she'd just been so happy! She did so love the outdoors, the wide, open sky overhead, the fresh air, the _trees_!

But now it was dark, night, and a sound had woken her. Not a sound in Hubertus's nursery next door to her room, but a sound here, right here in her own room. She wasn't alarmed, however. It was only Harmony.

"You have to go."

She frowned, trying to peer into the darkness to make out Harmony's expression. From her tone of voice, whatever was concerning her sounded serious, but her expression was hard to read because of the low light. There was practically no light in the room; a gorgeous, large tree that grew in front of the window was blocking the moon's rays. "Harmony, are you okay?" she asked tiredly, sitting up now.

"She wants to hurt Hubertus. I think she means to kill him."

The absurdity of the notion never even occurred to Emily as she leapt to her feet. "Catherine?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry, Harmony." She didn't know why she was saying that, either, but Harmony was her friend, was a good friend. It just wasn't right, really.

"Don't worry about me," Harmony replied. "I don't think it'll be such a hassle once the boy's out of the picture. I... I don't mean to sound awful about it, or anything, but I think I'll be fine, once you two have gone. I'll be okay, as long as you're both safe. I'm so angry at her right now! He's my grandson, and I don't even get to see him! It isn't fair, but I... I just don't trust myself. Better to be safe than sorry. I'm so sorry. I'd thought about leaving, myself, but then... well, who's to say I won't just come back again, when Cathy's in control and I can no longer stop her from doing anything... stupid. I won't allow that to happen! I'm going to tell Margaret and Charles what's going on and I'm going to make them promise to keep a sharp eye on me. If need be, they'll have to tell the boys. I can't let Cathy take over. Not in her present state of mind. She's just too... out of control, too sick!"

Emily shuffled closer for a hug, but Harmony stepped back.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I don't want to provoke her."

Emily looked sad, for a moment, and then she turned and walked to the door, out to her little son's nursery room.

.

The five-month-old was sound asleep in his mother's arms when Emily left the bus, carrying little more than Hubertus's baby bag, her purse, cell phone, and a spare change of clothes for herself. She'd not even brought her laptop along with her, nor her books or notepads. She hadn't wanted Harm to have to suffer any longer than was necessary, and she really hadn't trusted that Cathy could be contained any longer, given that she'd been waiting years for her revenge, whatever that was to be. She'd trusted her friend that if she said 'go,' then it was probably best to go.

Blue Cove was nothing like where she'd come from, it seemed, at that moment, to be gripped tightly by the frozen hands of winter, and she silently made her way along the street, in the direction of the nearest power pole bearing a light. With nowhere else to go, she figured she'd probably do best to call Lyle and ask if she could crash at his place for the night. Silvie wasn't staying with him anymore, so it wouldn't be a problem for her if Hubertus woke up half-a-dozen times during the night and started crying or making some similar fuss.

She still had to call her parents back and let them know that she was doing alright and that Hubertus was fine, too, she thought, as the cold seeped through her clothes, into her bones. If she wasn't careful, she'd have one of her asthma attacks and that really wouldn't be any good, what, with a small child to care for. It was just this horrible cold.

Stopping under the streetlight, she fished around in a pocket of her jeans for her cell phone. The battery was getting low and she'd stupidly forgotten to bring along her charger. How convenient! she thought, keying in the number without having to look it up in the Address Book and hoping Lyle picked up. Her phone was about to die and she and the baby were about to turn into living ice sculptures. Lovely. Honestly, Blue Cove was just lovely!

_Oh, how I do so love the winter months!_ she thought, far from cheerfully, and it was about then that her phone decided to give up the ghost and die on her: all out of power.

"Mine's right."

Looking up from her dark cell phone, she noticed that someone had come along without her noticing and was now holding their phone out to her. "You!"

"Planning on making it a surprise, I suppose you were," he said. "Sorry. Messed it up, a bit. Always doing things like that. Stupid... me. Stupid Empath."

She sighed, put her phone away. "You just teleport over here, lad, or you got a car?"

He turned and glanced behind him, down along the street.

"Does it have a heater?"

"Why wouldn't it have?" he asked.

"I dunno. So does it?"

"Yeah."

They walked off, together, in the direction of the car. Passing under another streetlight, Lyle said something she didn't catch.

"Pardon?"

"Welcome to Blue Cove."

She smiled. "Right, I forgot, you were born here, weren't you."

"Mmm."

"Jarod and Kyle, too. How dreary."

"There's a heater, 'round my place."

"There'd better be!" She sighed, watched her breath turn white. "Brought a friend along with. Don't know if you noticed or not."

"May have, yeah."

"Speaking of - friends! How's our favourite pirate?"

"We haven't been talking much, lately."

"Yeah?"

"Mmm."

"Since she moved out, was it?"

"Yeah. You're not hungry, are you?"

"You know me. Always hungry."

"That's good." He sounded tired.

"Translations again?"

"It never ends."

"No, I suppose you're right, there. If it's not one thing, it's another. It's always another."

"It doesn't always bother me, you know. I used to... really enjoy that sort of thing. But now... I don't know... it's worn off a little, I think. The allure of it. Or just my patience. Who knows? Oh, likely it's just me. Getting old, I suppose; gettin' on."

"Oh, don't be silly! You're not old."

"Old enough," he replied, as they reached the car. He went to get the door for her.

"Tah."

"What did _you_ think of my story?" She'd finally decided, after a week, to Hell with it, she'd just confront him and get him to spit it out!

"Communication."

"Huh?"

"They always say, 'Oh, there's so many more avenues open now than there was back twenty, thirty years ago! Yay for social media!', but still, people don't know how to communicate. Not with other people, not even with _themselves_, to be honest. Need an example, Sis? One standing right in front of you, talking... blah, blah, blah. Okay, what's with the look? You expect me to go off and yell at you? Or what? Laugh in your face? Run off and write something gruesome as to your own death? Pur-lease! I've better things to do with my time. Much better things. Did I tell you? Lois is thinking about coming to work here." He sighed, with a smile. "Dreamy!"

Parker smacked him in the arm. She kinda felt like puking, to be straight. "Snap out of it, freak! You two'd kill each other in two seconds flat!"

Lyle frowned, looking concerned. "No way, babe! Lois and I, we're, like, on the same wavelength."

"Yeah, right!" She laughed.

"It's totally true."

"It's totally not."

"Um, is too."

"Since when?"

"Since, like, yesterday."

Parker narrowed her eyes. "What happened yesterday?"

"Turns out: Lois is a single mother. Is it totally perfect, or what?"

"Ew."

"No, think about it. Nobody would see past the awesome, brilliant, totally genius facade! I'm such a genius!"

"And why are you telling me all this, genius?"

He frowned. "Dunno. Cos you asked, I suppose."

"Not such a genius," she replied. Mouthed, _And I didn't _ask_, stupid!_

He stepped away from her quickly. "Don't you try any o' that witchy stuff, now, Sis - I'm onto a good thing here! Should be happy for me, were you a good sister. You're happy for me, right? Ah, who cares! Just... keep that witchy stuff to yourself, yeah? No... funny spells."

"Abracadabra!" she mocked.

"No, Sis, really! Don't!"

"You're _such_ a baby!" she laughed. "How many times do I have to spell it out to you, Illiterate: I... don't... have... witchy... powers!"

"Yes you do," he said quietly.

"Oh, go to Hell!"

"I'll go if Lois is there."

"Oh, fuck, somebody save me! Reston, you freak, get yo' ass over here and hit on me!"

"You can do better than him, _any_ day!" Lyle said, suddenly serious. "Forget that guy."

"You're just pretending not to be mad, aren't you?"

He shook his head. "Nope! Really not mad. Well, that kinda mad. Am the other kind, if ya know what I mean."

"Insane mad!" she muttered, under her breath.

"Mad about someone!"

"Should I be sick now or later?" she asked, with a _Oh gross!_ look on her face.

"Bet you can't guess who, Sis? Go on, give it a shot!"

"I'd rather not," she replied, unenthused.

"I dare ya!"

She narrowed her eyes. "Lois!"

He frowned. "Oh damn, you guessed. But don't tell Lois, okay, cos it's a surprise!"

"As if I'm gonna talk to that crazy woman again!" she replied, stepping away from him. "You've got to be stark ravin' mad. Oh, wait, you are!" She laughed. "Ha-ha!"

"I see we've made up our differences," Sydney interrupted, walking over and stopping by the coffee machine where they'd been standing.

"Whaaat?" Parker asked, frowning slowly, then pretended to spot Lyle, standing right next to her. "Oh no! Shit! It's the enemy! Scatter!" Turning around, she pelted off down the hall. "So long, freak!"

Lyle glanced at the coffee machine suspectly. "What did you do to my sister? What do you mean, 'nothing'? You don't get to say that - you're just a machine! You have to tell the truth!"

"It's a coffee machine," Sydney told him, plainly.

"Exactly! Now own up!" he snapped at the machine. "Wha'did ya do t'er?"

"What?"

"What?" Lyle looked at Sydney.

"Would you stop talking to that thing, for goodness sakes!"

"Did you want to... get a coffee?"

"Oh, no, I just thought I'd pop by and listen to some loony having some loony argument with a _machine_!"

Lyle sighed, laughing a little bit. "Anyway," he added, edging away from Sydney, "I'm just gonna... go see how Sis is."

"Yes, do fuck off! Do us all a favour!"

"Tootles!" Lyle replied, and walked off, the way Parker had gone.

"Boo!" Parker hissed, from around the corner, and he made a face, stepping 'round the corner to talk to her.

"Don't do that! I could've had a heart attack!"

Parker shrugged, not really concerned. "Sooo! What's up with Syd?"

"How should I know?"

"Empath, stupid!" She made a face, prodded him in the arm. "That's you!"

"Still don't know, clever clogs!"

"Shut up."

"Why? Don't _you_ know, Little Miss I-Can-Talk-to-Dead-People's-Whatever?"

"Ghosts, moron! You should be scared!"

"Of some ghost, lady! I think nay!"

Parker dropped the narrowed eyes. "You reckon he's been chatting with that writer again?" She grinned. "Darcy, I mean."

"Possibility."

Parker snorted, amused, for some reason, at the prospect. Yeah, 'cause Sydney was always going on about how much he didn't like her, that was why! She sighed, prodded Lyle in the arm again. "How'd you know Lois's got a kid? She jus' casually drop the hint: got hungry mouth to feed, no Daddy, looking for next bank account?"

"That's a bit cold, don't you think?"

"Um, Ice Queen! Who'd the Hell you think you were talking to, loser? Miss Sensitivity! Ha!" She laughed. "What, you guys hook up already? She a bit of a dish? Now that I'm your official supporter, I need to know these things!"

"Yeah, right."

"It's _true_!"

He shook his head.

"Oh, shut up! Who saw the potential even before you did, yourself, little bro? Who did, huh? I did! Big sis!"

He laughed.

"Zip it! Want me to hex you so you'll like _Re-he-eston_!"

"What's wrong with Reston?"

She widened her eyes. "Like _that_!"

"You, woman, are a mean, mean woman!"

"Can it or _I will hex you!_ Now, about this Lois ch-"

"Parker?"

"I'm sleeping, go away," she mumbled. "I was having a really funny dream, too. Whadda ya want, weirdo?" She opened her eyes, to see who she was insulting, and shreiked. "Someone get me my gun! I found you, you rat!"

"Nice. Nice," Jarod commented. "I think, technically, it was I who found you. And, besides, you owe me - for rescuing you from a good mood."

She snorted. "Shut up, rat boy!"

He laughed. "As I said, _nice_."

"You betcha, rat boy!"

"Mind you, it wasn't that easy getting in here. I might've tripped over the casserole dish someone left in front of your door and killed myself."

"Food? Really?" Parker stood up, suddenly. "Where?"

"Which someone _left_ on your porch," Jarod reminded her.

"I know! So where is it? I'm starving!"

"I put it on the kitchen table."

"Oh good!"

"Parker?"

"Oh, it was obviously that woman!" she told him, with a wave of her hand, and walked out of her lounge room, where she'd been sleeping on the sofa, and off to the kitchen. She smiled when she spotted the casserole dish and leapt over to the oven to switch it on to warm up. "Care to join me for breakfast?" she asked, when Jarod walked in after her.

"I'm not so sure I'd be trusting that stuff, whatever it is."

Parker made a face, went over to the table and lifted the lid to look at the vegetable stew. "Looks fine to me," she replied, with a glimmer in her eye.

"I'm sorry: woman? What woman?"

"Oh, just the mother of someone Lyle knows. Lois, Poppy, whoever."

"Whoever? Someone _Lyle_ knows?"

"Mad boy's not going to poison me with vegetable stew, Jarod. He's not that clever."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"Well, I'm not that stupid!"

"Is that so?"

"No! It's perfectly fine! My friend and I used to make vegetable stew all the time in boarding school! She was absolutely mad about plants, that kid! They were only going to let them rot, they'd thrown them away, you know, and they weren't even that bad, yet. So, we put them to good use. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Missing the point a bit, aren't you, Parker? Your friend and you didn't make this."

Parker shrugged. "Nope, you're right, must've bin Spastic."

Jarod nodded; _therefore?_

Parker sighed. "What a creep!"

"What happened to your friend?" Jarod asked, deciding to change tack.

"She passed on."

"She's dead, you mean?" he asked.

"I mean. Done and dusted."

"What happened?"

"Ah, it was my fault. I killed her. Car crash. Stupid, really."

"You were driving?"

"Yeah. Pretty crappy, hey? We're more alike than you think, Spazzo and I. He killed his friend; I killed mine. Wow, wasn't that the world's biggest twin moment!" She laughed darkly. "Still, that's all in the past. So, what, you're not going to have any stew with me?"

Jarod sighed. "Oh, why not!"

.

"What were you dreaming about that was so funny, anyway?"

"It doesn't matter."

"No? You're not going to tell me?"

"No way! I'd only embarrass myself, if I did."

Jarod smiled. "Is that the case?"

"Big time!" She sighed. "Not dead yet. What a disappointment." She snorted suddenly. "Would be funny if Mi possessed the creep. So funny!"

"Mi?"

"My friend. Mimi. He's supposed to be an Empath, right? So, yeah, I know it's a bit far-fetched, possession, and all, but Empaths can be influenced by other people's moods and crap like that. So maybe it's possible, theoretically."

"Mmm."

"And it was nice stew. Seriously, Illiterate can't cook! So - ner! Must have been possessed, the weirdo! By a girl!" She laughed again.

"But why would your friend's spirit - or ghost, or whatever - suddenly show up now?"

"I dunno. Cos I miss her, maybe. I dunno. Maybe... maybe to say, 'Goodbye, I'm going to the next... whatever'? World. Whatever. You know, like Faith did."

"Okay, maybe. But why now?"

"Because... she had to stay to say 'see ya' first, and I was... I wasn't ready for that, in the past. I didn't want to accept it, to believe in that sort of stuff, but now, I've sort of just given up not believing in it, you know? I mean, I'm an Inner Sense Possessor, Jarod! A frigging ISP! And I... I didn't want to believe it because it's... it's so Goddamn _unfair_! That... they're gone but not really, but, in a way, they still are! It's not fair!"

"I see what you're getting at," Jarod told her.

"I know you do. I know! But, do you see? Do you get it? I... I didn't want to let go, before. I was so... scared of being alone, of the people I loved really, finally leaving me. I thought, _Shit, if they leave... Hell, what if I don't ever get the chance to meet anyone I'll feel that sort of connection with again, what if they were my only chance, my _last_ chance! I'll be Goddamn lonely for the rest of my crappy life!_ But now I've just... gotten tired. I'm so tired of... of always playing this game. This the-world-is-sinister-and-I-could-give-a-damn game. I just want to... to be happy, to live." She sighed. "I... I don't know what I want, really, anymore. I just don't want... more of the same. I wanna smile."

"You will one day, Parker. You will. For real."

She smiled at him. "For real."

"_For real._"


End file.
